Hands-on Activities for Teaching Contractions

admin August 12, 2014 No Comments

Last year I created the original File Folder Phonics activities and they fast became a favorite for introducing and practicing phonics concepts.  They are great for independent centers as well as first introducing the concept during small group instruction.  Since creating the initial file folder activities bundle, I’ve been receiving request after request for additional activities.  Two of my new favorite file folder activities are the ones that introduce the concept of contractions.  This is a skill that is typically introduced mid-first grade; however, I find that many second graders could use added practice.   As with all the file folder activities, an explanation of the concept or a statement of the rule is included as well as a hands-on

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Dry Erase Pocket Phonics

admin August 8, 2014 No Comments

I just love working with dry erase pockets.  They’re great for small group instruction as phonics pages can slide right inside and then later erased so that they can be used over and over again.  Last year I was able to pick up quite a few dry erase pockets at Walmart during the back to school sale and I have been using them ever since.   I created these dry erase pocket activities for working with short vowel sounds and dry erase pockets.  There are 17 differentiated templates.  They’ve been great for our little learners. The Dry Erase Pockets Phonics Activities for Short Vowels/CVC Words can be found in my online Teachers Pay Teachers store or on the Make, Take

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Blends and Digraphs Game Boards

admin June 29, 2014 No Comments

Oh, summertime!  One of my goals this summer is to revamp several of my earlier created activities and the Consonant Blends and Digraphs Game Boards activity is first on my list.  I’ve added several new game boards for a total of 20!  Each game board is also available in a black and white version so that they can be copied and sent them home with students for added practice.  The consonant digraphs game boards contains the production cues which is a nice companion to the Consonant Digraphs cue card.  Be sure to download the free cue card by  clicking the link below: Just click the following link: Consonant Digraphs Cue Card The Consonant Blends and Digraphs Game Boards are available through

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Road Racers!

admin April 29, 2014 No Comments

The Road Racers activities are fast becoming one of my favorite activities!  It’s amazing how motivating a little car can be.  A month or so ago I created the activity for letters and sounds, and it was such a hit that I quickly created another to work on short vowels, word families and CVC words. When you download the Road Racers for the Alphabet, you’ll receive  35 road templates with letters following the sequence of a commonly utilized reading series. Review roads are included for each 4 and 8 letter sequence. Simply print the road templates and gather a few little dollar store race cars and you’ll have a ready-made activity for either small group instruction or for independent literacy centers.

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Rhyming Caterpillars

admin March 22, 2014 No Comments

I have such fond memories of reading The Hungry Caterpillar to my own children and to my preschool students.  It was one of my very favorite books.   I use to have a puppet which started as a caterpillar and then flipped inside out to turn into a butterfly.  Now that my preschool-teaching days are long past gone and my own kiddos are now in college, I just couldn’t part ways with that caterpillar and he sits proudly on the shelf above my desk.    Since many of my teacher friends are putting away their St. Patrick’s Day-themed activities and are bringing out their spring activities for small group instruction and centers, I thought creating a few spring-themed activities would

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Spring Themed Sight Word Game Boards

admin March 10, 2014 No Comments

 Oh my…. spring is just around the corner.  It certainly has been a long, hard winter.  Creating these spring-themed activities really lightens the mood.  I asked my fabulous artist, Kyle, to create 4 different spring/summer themed game boards and she really out-did herself.  I absolutely LOVE the designs she created.  There are 4 different game board styles- butterflies, bumblebees, ladybugs and umbrellas.  I love each one!  There are 9 game boards containing words from the Dolch 220 sight word lists.  Be sure to download my free Dolch Sight Word assessment so that you know which board is most appropriate for the students. I’ve included black and white copies of each game board.  Many of my teacher friends like to send

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Even More St. Patrick’s Day Activities!

admin March 6, 2014 No Comments

Our kiddos just love it when we add a little holiday fun into literacy centers.  The 4-In-A-Row games are ideal for literacy center activities as students can play these games with partners while learning targeted phonics skills.  Playing 4-In-A-Row is pretty easy.  Students just take turns reading the words on the game board and placing their colored chips in the square.  The first player to have 4 of their colored chips in a row wins the game.   When you download this activity you’ll receive 12 phonics-based game boards for practicing vowel teams, long vowel sound spelling patterns (for example:  i/ie/igh/y), and r-controlled vowels. The St. Patrick’s Day 4-In-A-Row Game Boards for Phonics is available through the Make, Take &

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File Folder Phonics

admin February 14, 2014 No Comments

File folder activities are great for classroom literacy centers.  They are typically used to reinforce skills so they are ideal for independent work.  For these activities, I’ve included a word sorting activity, a word writing activity and then a fill-in-the-black activity on the back of the file folder.  There’s a little bit of assembly involved, but it’ll be well worth it as, if laminated, the folders can be used over and over again.  Here’s a few pictures: Here’s the activity for Consonant + le: …and here’s a picture for the oi/oy file folder activity.  You’ll notice that some file folder activities have 2- , 3- and 4- areas for sorting and writing. I’ve included step-by-step assembly directions for each format.

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Fun Football Themed Activities!

admin January 27, 2014 No Comments

The Superbowl is coming up this weekend!  Although my favorite team isn’t playing in the big event, my second favorite team will be taking the field.  I have to admit I’m a pretty  big Peyton Manning fan so I’ll be cheering for the Broncos!  To celebrate the Superbowl festivities this weekend, I created a new football-themed activity for my second grade friends working on consonant + le.  This activity is a fast moving activity with lots of opportunities for response. The Touchdown! Consonant + le activity is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Earlier this year, I created the game for the sight words and CVC words.  These activities will be great for your first grade centers! The Touchdown! Game for

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Activities on the Go!

admin January 23, 2014 No Comments

It just  hit me one day!  I was cleaning the basement and came across a whole stack of old Disney movies.  I just couldn’t throw them away- oh, the memories.  What could I do with all those movies?  Okay, maybe it’s not the best solution for the movies themselves, but the CASES!  Perfect for storing activities!  My teacher friends are always looking for ways to store their activities.  These old video cases are absolutely perfect!  It kind of became an obsession–well, not “kind of”- it became a big obsession.  I decided to create 17 different activities which could fit in these cases. I had about 10 cases so I had to hop on over to the Habitat for Humanity Restore

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